when did we start getting chuggers in this country?
im sure i dont remember seeing them so much before the last ten years or so.
im starting to really hate them
all that happy smiley attitude they try and force on you when all you want is to get some shopping
i dont WANT to do a fucking questionaire!
i know its a hard job to do and ultimately its for a good cause but something about aggressively campaigning and wearing you down to donate seems a bit off (if probably effective/necessary - i mean, its worked on me before lol)
what fucks me off the most is that even when you ARE donating each month, they still call to try and get you to raise the amount
if i COULD increase the amount, i WOULD

Mr. Tea

28-04-2010, 01:04 PM

The worst bit is that awful ingratiating little sideways dance they do as they're trying to catch your eye. It always seems kind of drama-school/'jazz hands'.

A mate of mine who's a biochemist has a great response to some of them, though - when they ask "Can you spare five minutes for cancer research?" he says "Well I've done about six years so far, how's that?". (The other option is the punchline to an 'Irish' joke: "Ah, to be sure, but I can't see us getting much done!")

The other annoying thing is when the first thing they say is that they're not after money...well, what exactly do you want then? It's not like I'm going to cure a disease or feed some starving kids by standing here chatting to you, is it?

gumdrops

28-04-2010, 01:08 PM

id be interested to find out how much charities spend on these companies that chug/call people each year cos theyre not volunteers, theyre paid.

@ Gumdrops: A couple of years ago, going rate was £9 an hour. Probably a little more now.

My strategy now (well, in theory) is to ask them whether they believe that whatever cause they're raising for should in fact not be subsidised by the state/taxes, and whether having to tout for money for cancer care/children/whatever, is not a bit wrong in principle? If they can make a coherent argument that it wouldn't/couldn't be funded by the state under any circumstances, then I'm having a conversation.

grizzleb

28-04-2010, 01:36 PM

@ Gumdrops: A couple of years ago, going rate was £9 an hour. Probably a little more now.

My strategy now (well, in theory) is to ask them whether they believe that whatever cause they're raising for should in fact not be subsidised by the state/taxes, and whether having to tout for money for cancer care/children/whatever, is not a bit wrong in principle? If they can make a coherent argument that it wouldn't be funded by the state under any circumstances, then I'm having a conversation.
Said this to a chugger once and she agreed, smiled and looked deeply into my eyes. I'm pretty sure she wasn't listening to what I was saying - "I hope this prick gives me some money".

baboon2004

28-04-2010, 01:38 PM

ultimately its for a good cause

not necessarily. privatising core responsibilities to citizens (eg i used to work for a kids' hospice and government funding was nigh on nil for a while) is NOT a good thing. The dialogue around the 'third sector' needs to change dramatically - it's privatisation in many cases, and ties to donors are legitimising big business etc as an 'ethical' concern.

I think state funding and service autonomy can (or should ) co-exist.

baboon2004

28-04-2010, 01:38 PM

Said this to a chugger once and she agreed, smiled and looked deeply into my eyes. I'm pretty sure she wasn't listening to what I was saying - "I hope this prick gives me some money".

good on you. she obviously was braindead, but it's always worth a try. Failing that, just tell her you used to be a chugger and you realised it wasn't morally sustainable.

grizzleb

28-04-2010, 01:45 PM

Yeah I've gotten into problems before by suggesting that wholehearted and thoughtless support of charity could be anything other than angelic - i.e falling out with oversensitive people who were desperate to feel like they were fucking saints. So I try to avoid direct attacks on any individuals morality whenever I get into such a debate now haha.

Anyway, I always try to have a good chug whenever/wherever I can. Is chugging slang for wanking down south too? Always cracks me up when I see 'chugging' in the newspapers. :D

baboon2004

28-04-2010, 01:52 PM

Yeah I've gotten into problems before by suggesting that wholehearted and thoughtless support of charity could be anything other than angelic - i.e falling out with oversensitive people who were desperate to feel like they were fucking saints. So I try to avoid direct attacks on any individuals morality whenever I get into such a debate now haha.

Anyway, I always try to have a good chug whenever/wherever I can. Is chugging slang for wanking down south too? Always cracks me up when I see 'chugging' in the newspapers. :D

I think the intellectual/political paucity of the debate surrounding charities is shocking, so do get into those debates!

id be interested to find out how much charities spend on these companies that chug/call people each year cos theyre not volunteers, theyre paid.

I did this for "Greenpeace" (that's what our shirts said-- but it was actually just for the Fund for Public Interest Research) one summer in Manhattan when I was teen. Back then you got paid $40/day plus a commission of $50 for every person you got to sign up for "membership." A good day would bring in about $200.

This took some actual skill, however, because membership required that the person give you their credit card number on the spot. So you had to really pretend you cared about the environment, or just guilt the soccer moms into giving you money because they felt sorry for you. There was a $15/month minimum, and you were supposed to tell them they could cancel anytime-- the problem was, the "cancellation number" was a dead line. So there was no way to really cancel a membership, unless you haggled with your credit card company and claimed theft.

I had a friend who became a top seller in the nation because she'd lie and tell the people it was a one-time donation. Most of us would tell people that cash donations were acceptable and just pocket it.

Long story short: don't give those people your money, or your credit card number.

swears

28-04-2010, 10:56 PM

When I was younger, I was naive enough to think that these people were "chugging" for no fee just because they supported the charity/cause. I've heard some of them get 70% commision.

zhao

29-04-2010, 06:16 AM

I did this for "Greenpeace" (that's what our shirts said-- but it was actually just for the Fund for Public Interest Research) one summer in Manhattan when I was teen. Back then you got paid $40/day plus a commission of $50 for every person you got to sign up for "membership." A good day would bring in about $200.

This took some actual skill, however, because membership required that the person give you their credit card number on the spot. So you had to really pretend you cared about the environment, or just guilt the soccer moms into giving you money because they felt sorry for you. There was a $15/month minimum, and you were supposed to tell them they could cancel anytime-- the problem was, the "cancellation number" was a dead line. So there was no way to really cancel a membership, unless you haggled with your credit card company and claimed theft.

I had a friend who became a top seller in the nation because she'd lie and tell the people it was a one-time donation. Most of us would tell people that cash donations were acceptable and just pocket it.

Long story short: don't give those people your money, or your credit card number.

mind: blown.

baboon2004

29-04-2010, 11:25 AM

I did this for "Greenpeace" (that's what our shirts said-- but it was actually just for the Fund for Public Interest Research) one summer in Manhattan when I was teen. Back then you got paid $40/day plus a commission of $50 for every person you got to sign up for "membership." A good day would bring in about $200.

This took some actual skill, however, because membership required that the person give you their credit card number on the spot. So you had to really pretend you cared about the environment, or just guilt the soccer moms into giving you money because they felt sorry for you. There was a $15/month minimum, and you were supposed to tell them they could cancel anytime-- the problem was, the "cancellation number" was a dead line. So there was no way to really cancel a membership, unless you haggled with your credit card company and claimed theft.

I had a friend who became a top seller in the nation because she'd lie and tell the people it was a one-time donation. Most of us would tell people that cash donations were acceptable and just pocket it.

Long story short: don't give those people your money, or your credit card number.

Wow - first time I've heard about a dead line being used. Not sure they'd get away with that in the UK, yet i generally percevie the US charity sector to be better run...

grizzleb

29-04-2010, 12:06 PM

Haha, none of that surprises me. Well shady.

Mr. Tea

29-04-2010, 01:12 PM

I've heard some of them get 70% commision.

So that's not so much "collecting for charity", more "professional, licenced begging, and then giving a cut of your income to a charity"...

alex

23-08-2010, 12:30 PM

don't know if they come under chuggers or not but las week when i went to get lunch from M&S, the same guy asked me 3 days in a row if I wanted to join talk talk, the forth day I said 'get the fuck away from me bruv, seriously you prick'

grizzleb

23-08-2010, 03:19 PM

don't know if they come under chuggers or not but las week when i went to get lunch from M&S, the same guy asked me 3 days in a row if I wanted to join talk talk, the forth day I said 'get the fuck away from me bruv, seriously you prick'Big man eh?

scottdisco

23-08-2010, 04:33 PM

a friend of mine, her brother is the administrator/head honcho for one particular posse of chuggers (they're somewhere in the Manchester area, poss' Mcr city centre, i forget), and although i don't know details of what goes on, i know she has a low view of his job. he doesn't go out chugging, he's in an office somewhere.

anyway, my two c (much like chuggers, i am rudely inflicting without asking) is although it would be good if the need for chuggers was not around, it clearly is, and if some hardscrabble kids have to get in your face, so be it. there are many people who have started giving a little bit to fine, upstanding charities purely because some kid took the time to duck into their path whilst they were out in town.
end of, really.

i totally hear what Baboon is saying about wouldn't it be nice if the state took care of everything they're touting for (whether it's a dogs' home, Amnesty, a cancer research charity, Children International, whatever), but, the perfect is the enemy of the good, yunno?

admittedly Nomad's tale is an interesting one, i think the charitable sector in the USA raises more money per head than in the UK (tax deductible innit), but i can't imagine it's better regulated in any particular way, shape or form (that said my American ex worked for a non-profit for ages and they did a lot of good work, keenly regulated).

i mean, like anyone, i get accosted a lot, and apart from a rare occasion when i wanna hear what they have to say, a simple 'sorry' or 'no thanks' and you're both off on your separate ways again...

alex

23-08-2010, 05:03 PM

Big man eh?

not really, id love to see your reaction after someone try's to sell you the same thing 3 days in a row. Especially as I am in dispute with a similar company at the moment.

rubberdingyrapids

24-08-2010, 10:10 AM

had a call from one organisation i already volunteer for and donate to the other day, asking me to donate about a £100 to pakistan. said i couldnt afford it at the moment, so she lowered the amount, told her my position hadnt changed, but she just kept pushing and pushing and would not give up, no matter what i said. i think i could have said that i was homeless and she would have still kept going. chuggers have balls.

she also told me the company she works for will get £45,000 for the work they do which i can understand, but at the same time, left me wondering how the numbers add up.

Sick Boy

24-08-2010, 09:34 PM

Adding to what Nomad said upthread, I also have heard many things about charity organizations in North America and their "operating costs." Apparently it can be completely legal to run an organization that puts away a higher percentage of what they collect into "operating costs" than into actual donations. You know, as long as the paperwork is right. Nevermind supermarket chuggers either, I'd say that the Churches have this game particularly zipped up. You're not as likely going to spend an eternity in Hell by telling the kid outside the 7-11 to fuck off.

So like Tea said, it isn't much of a stretch at all to call it licenced begging, and perhaps in the case of the Churches, a kind of extortion.

not really, id love to see your reaction after someone try's to sell you the same thing 3 days in a row. Especially as I am in dispute with a similar company at the moment.I'm just kidding on. These people are immensely annoying and deserve any anger that gets thrown at them.

alex

25-08-2010, 09:15 AM

Sorry for that reply man, didnít mean it to sound confrontational, in my defence I had been posting on dsf about 5 minutes previous to that and these people really wind me up.